Sunday, December 6, 2015

Aitareya Upanishad 2.1

In 1st chapter three avasthas were talked about - and they were wake, dream and sushupti,
There is another set of three avasthas - in the form of three shareerams.
Jivatma goes from one shareeram to the 2nd and 3rd, and thus has birth 1,2 and 3.
The content here is similar to Mundaka Up 2.1.5 - tasmād agniḥ samidho yasya sūryaḥ somāt parjanya oṣadhayaḥ pṛthivyām pumān retaḥ siñcati yoṣitāyāṃ bahvīḥ prajāḥ puruṣāt saṃprasūtāḥ // 5.
Fate of the body after death- where after dropping this physical body and collects and carries forward the next body in a very minute form. That minute body cant be used by the jiva and has to be expanded. Hence the jiva goes through five stages - called pancha agnayah - and in each stage the physical body gradually evolves - svarga, megha, bhumi, purusha, naari - like a car going through a assembly line.

Svarga - heaven
Megha - cloud, and via rain it descends down to
Prthvi - earth through food
Purusha - reaches body of male
Naari - at conception transfers to mother
And mother has to nourish through the umbilical cord for 9 months in her womb

So for the next birth jiva has a father's body, mother's body and finally its own developed body.
First birth is shifting from father's body to mother's body, second birth is from mothers body to own, and third birth is to the next body. And thus this cycle will keep on repeating endlessly like a revolving wheel unless we come to vedanta. Vedanta is like the switch that can stop the revolving wheel made available to us and without using it we will keep going through multiple births

The Upanisad asks any lady students who are pregnant they are asked to skip this 2nd chapter. From this it is clear that Upanisad were studied by women also.

OM puruShe ha vA ayamAdito garbho bhavati yadetadretaH .tadetatsarvebhyo.a~NgebhyastejaH saMbhUtamAtmanyeva.a.atmAnaM bibharti tadyadA striyA.n si~nchatyathainajjanayati tadasya prathama.n janma ..
This person (Jiva) is, at first, the germ in a man. That which is the semen is here
called the germ. This semen is the vigor drawn from all the limbs. The man holds
this essence of his Self in his own body. When he pours the semen into a woman, he
procreates himself. This, indeed, is the first birth of the embodied soul.

How is the seed formed in the body of the father? the seed is an extract taken from the essence of every limb of the male body - it will have the dna for all the limbs of the baby to be.
In Chandaogya 7 stages are described saptadhatu. Thus the father carries his own essence in his body.The transference of the seed to the mother is the first birth

That semen becomes one with the woman-just like a limb of her own. That is why it
does not hurt her. She nourishes this self of his that has come into her.

The mother's body does not treat the seed as an external thing. Anytime there is a transplant of any foreign tissue, the bodys immune system treats that as a external thing and tries to reject it. However here the mother's body does not reject the father's seed as her own and does not reject. In fact it supports the seed and nourishes the seed, the husband's mini-body, as her own. And the fetus also does not harm the host the mother. This is the 2nd abode of the jivA.

sA bhAvayitrI bhAvayitavyA bhavati . ta.n strI garbha bibharti . so.agraeva kumAra.n janmano.agre.adhibhAvayati .sa yatkumAra.n janmano.agre.adhibhAvayatyAtmAnameva tadbhAvayatyeSha.nlokAnA.n santatyA .eva.n santatA hIme lokAstadasya dvitIya.n janma .. 3..
She, being the nourisher of the child , should be nourished. The woman nourishes
the embryo. Immediately after its birth the father nourishes the child. Nourishing
the child from birth onward, he thus nourishes himself for the continuation of these
worlds. For thus alone are these worlds perpetuated. This is one's second birth.

Hence the mother should be taken care of by the husband by providing all the comfort. From the birth the child is nourished. This way he is taking care of himself - because he alone is in the form of the baby.
Thus alone is the vedic culture transferred from the parents to the child. Nourishing the body is not so important, but nourishing culture, religious personality is very important and for this perpetuation of the culture/religion lokanam santati family is very important. Money and possessions may come and go but faith in God, religion, rituals and culture must endure and these are the true gifts to be passed to the next generation.

The child who is the father’s own Self is made his substitute for performing virtuous
deeds. Then the Self of the father, having accomplished his duties and reached his

age departs. So departing hence, he is born again. This is the third birth.

Having entrusted the responsibility of continuing the rituals and traditions the parent can embrace vanaprastha and relinquish the duties. Having grown old he leaves this body and this is his 3rd birth.

Most of humanity will repeatedly cycle through these three births. Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam

But some rare jivas born in a culture where moksha is highlighted - due to punya accrued from numerous prior births.. and the jiva will come to karmayoga, gathers viveka vairagya, performs upasana, and acquires kshamadi shatsampatti, and gets Guru and thus comes to vedanta.

Sometimes jiva comes to vedanta, understand vedanta very well but somehow because of some invisible obstacle, the knowledge remains purely academic. Not able to claim "aham jivanmukta asmi" This is called adrshta pratibandha. Such people die with obstacle ridden knowledge sapratibandhaka jnana. As long as obstacle are there knowledge cannot benefit the person, like a black cloth covering the bulb.
This jiva may get release in the next bith all of a sudden when the obstacle is gone
Such a event happened to Vamadeva who got release in the mothers womb itself.taduktamRiShiNA garbhe nu sannanveShAmavedamaha.n devAnA.n janimAnivishvA shataM mA pura AyasIrarakShannadhaH shyeno javasA niradIyamiti. garbha evaitachChayAno vAmadeva evamuvAcha .. 5..
About this a rishi has said: "While still lying in the womb, I came to know all the
births of the gods. A hundred strongholds, as if made of iron, confined me, yet I
burst through them all swiftly, like a hawk." Vamadeva spoke, in this way, even
while lying in the womb.

In the womb of my mother I am declaring this - so says Rishi Vamadeva. Devanam in this context refers to indriyanam sense organs and these belong to the sukshma shareeram. devanam vishwa janimani refers to all the hundreds of births of sukshma shareeram as it goes from one body to the other. Sthula Sukshma shareera association is birth and sthula sukshma shareera dissociation is Death. ANd who am I ? I am that self thathas neither sthula nor sukshma shareeram - na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire BH 2.20
Until now shatam purah hundreds of physical bodies constrained me within like iron shackles. I always felt trapped in the body. Now like a falcon I fly freely having broken those iron -like shackles. javasa indicates forcibly, here I too by the force of vedanta jnana have freed myself of body identification and identify myself as Brahman - as Idandra ..

Thus endowed with Knowledge, he, becoming one with the Supreme Self and
soaring aloft on the dissolution of the body, obtained all desires in the heavenly
world and became immortal-yea, became immortal.

Whoever gains this knowledge sa eva will have all his desires fulfilled sarvan kaman aptva. This is because he understands everything is me MySelf. called jivanmukti. As long as prarabdha continues the body continues and when prarabdha is over he attains or merges in Brahman - in this context svarga loka means brahma chaitanyam - he becomes immortal.
So the message here is get out of the chain of the three avasathas and claim your Higher nature